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[ArtHands]

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news...oft_stock_or_attempt_a_takeover_says_exec.php

On Friday Ubisoft hosted its annual shareholders meeting without incident, getting shareholder approval for the expansion of its board of directors and reconfirming a number of boardmembers' positions.

After the shareholders meeting, Vivendi chief operating officer Stephane Roussel reportedly told Bloomberg that the French conglomerate (which owns a roughly 26 percent stake in Ubisoft) hasn't yet decided whether it will attempt a Ubisoft takeover or simply sell off its stock in the company.

This is important because Ubisoft has long been under threat of hostile takeover by Vivendi, which could take advantage of the annual shareholders meeting by, say, calling for a shareholder vote to give itself a seat on the board.

According to Roussel, Vivendi has previously requested a seat on the board but was rejected by Ubisoft management. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot further told Bloomberg that he did not believe Vivendi would be successful if it did try to get itself onto the board via shareholder vote, because "our shareholders don't want creeping control."

However, things may come to a head later this year, as Bloomberg reports that Vivendi will see its stake in Ubisoft increase automatically this November due to a provision for double voting rights (which, in an effort to encourage shareholder loyalty, typically allows shareholders to exercise double voting rights for shares they have registered and held for a certain amount of time.)

That increase will reportedly bring Vivendi very close to owning 30 percent of Ubisoft. French accounting law requires Vivendi to make a takeover bid once it owns more than a 30 percent stake, which is exactly how it wound up (successfully) initiating a mandatory takeover of French game company Gameloft last year.

 

[TheMoon]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1438548

 

[PsihoPerihelion]

Sell it and get fucked, Vivendi.

 

[Stygr]

That increase will reportedly bring Vivendi very close to owning 30 percent of Ubisoft. French accounting law requires Vivendi to make a takeover bid once it owns more than a 30 percent stake, which is exactly how it wound up (successfully) initiating a mandatory takeover of French game company Gameloft last year.

So basically if they reach that 30% they can make an offer and buy Ubisoft?
How many € they will need to control the whole company? 4 billion? 5? 6?

 

[Nostremitus]

What are the chances they lose a lot of talent if they do the takeover?

 

[Vinterbird]

What are the chances they lose a lot of talent if they do the takeover?

I guess some super high profile people can bail, but I doubt many would be in a position to quit their job and take a gamble on getting another job.

Especially if they have a family, house or anything really.

 

[Micerider]

What are the chances they lose a lot of talent if they do the takeover?

Seeing how Vivendi handled their other media acquisitions in France (cf : Canal+ which is basically a shade of it's former self), HIGH.

 

[Harlequin]

What are the chances they lose a lot of talent if they do the takeover?

This is AAA game development we're talking about. Bleeding talent is a normal part of day-to-day business.

I guess some super high profile people can bail, but I doubt many would be in a position to quit their job and take a gamble on getting another job.

Especially if they have a family, house or anything really.

I could see some of the non-Ubisoft studios trying to snatch up Ubisoft Montreal employees who wouldn't want to stay under Vivendi.

 

[adversarial]

This is AAA game development we're talking about. Bleeding talent is a permanent condition.



I could see some of the non-Ubisoft studios trying to snatch up Ubisoft Montreal employees who don't want to stay under Vivendi.

They obviously mean due to an aggressive, hostile takeover by another company. I imagine fairly high.

 

[loganclaws]

Hopefully they will choose to keep the shares and acquire ubisoft, Vivendi can do some great things with Ubisoft's IPs.

 

[10k]

Drop it like it's hot and never come back.

Hopefully they will choose to keep the shares and acquire ubisoft, Vivendi can do some great things with Ubisoft's IPs.

Were you around for Vivendi owning Activision and killing a bunch of IP's and studios to the point where it just became CoD and licensed games?

 

[Harlequin]

They obviously mean due to an aggressive, hostile takeover by another company. I imagine fairly high.

I know what they meant. But I'm not sure if it'd matter all that much seeing as they're losing talent on a regular basis, anyway. They might lose a few more people than usual after a Vivendi take-over but I don't think that loss of talent would have all that much of an impact on their big blockbuster games which, these days, mostly seem to be design-by-committee affairs, anyway. Vivendi taking creative control would be a bigger factor, I imagine.

 

[MadMod]

Hopefully they will choose to keep the shares and acquire ubisoft, Vivendi can do some great things with Ubisoft's IPs.

Lets hope they bail, for the sake of Ubisoft. Can't imagine what it would be like even more corporate.

 

[Greigor The Fellhand]

UBI's tactics are working, its costing vivendi more money than they thought. Keep it up UBI!!!

if you gotta crowd fund more cash to survive then do it

 

[Sponge]

Just sell it.

 

[Beartruck]

Wouldn't Ubi currently cost more than Vivendi has in the bank to buy them? Last i heard it would be 5-6 billion to acquire them, and Vivendi doesn't have that money.

 

[calavera_jo]

Drop it like it's hot and never come back.



Were you around for Vivendi owning Activision and killing a bunch of IP's and studios to the point where it just became CoD and licensed games?

I'm pretty sure that's just Kotick